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Storm Clouds over the Pacific begins the story long before Pearl
Harbor, showing how the war can only be understood if ancient
hatreds and long-standing geopolitics are taken into account. Peter
Harmsen demonstrates how Japan and China’s ancient enmity grew in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries leading to increased
tensions in the 1930s which exploded into conflict in 1937. The
battles of Shanghai and Nanjing were followed by the battle of
Taierzhuang in 1938, China’s only major victory. A war of
attrition continued up to 1941, the year when Japan made the
momentous decision for all-out war; the infamous attack on Pearl
Harbor catapulted the United States into the war, and the Japanese
also overran British and Dutch territories throughout the western
Pacific. It is the first volume in the War in the Asia Pacific
series, a trilogy of books comprising a general history of the war
against Japan. Unlike other histories, it expands the narrative
beginning long before Pearl Harbor and encompasses a much wider
group of actors to produce the most complete narrative yet written
and the first truly international treatment of the epic conflict.
Peter Harmsen uses his renowned ability to weave together complex
events into an entertaining and revealing narrative, including
facets of the war that may be unknown to many readers of WWII
history, such as the war in Subarctic conditions on the Aleutians,
or the mass starvations that cost the lives of millions in China,
Indochina, and India, and offering a range of perspectives to
reflect what war was like both at the top and at the bottom, from
the Oval Office to the blistering sands of Peleliu.
December 1942 saw the bloodiest Christmas in the history of
mankind. From the islands in the Pacific to the China front, from
the trenches in Russia to the battle lines in North Africa, in the
skies over Europe and in the depths of the Atlantic, men were
killing each other in greater numbers than ever before. The
Holocaust continued, and innocent civilians were murdered by the
thousands throughout the evil Nazi empire, even as the perpetrators
celebrated the birth of Christ. Millions stationed in far-off lands
amid the greatest conflict in human history feared this was their
last Christmas in freedom, or their last Christmas alive. At the
same time as the slaughter continued unabated, throughout the world
there were random acts of kindness, born out of an instinctive
feeling of the essential brotherhood of man. These gestures also
straddled religious barriers and sometimes included those of
non-Christian faiths. Even some Japanese, otherwise embarked on a
self-declared crusade against the West, relented for a few precious
hours in acknowledgment of the holiday. At the same time, Christmas
1942 saw the injunction of ‘good will to man’ distorted in ugly
and callous ways. At Auschwitz, SS guards played cruel games with
their prisoners. In Berlin, the German heart of darkness,
Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels spent time with his family
while still buried in feverish fantasies about the Jewish world
conspiracy. Christmas 1942 saw the entire range of man’s conduct
towards his fellow man, reflecting the extremes of behaviour, good
and bad, that World War II gave rise to. The way the holiday was
marked around the world tells a deeper and more universal story of
the human condition in extraordinary times.
The infamous Rape of Nanjing looms like a dark shadow over the
history of Asia in the 20th century, and is among the most widely
recognized chapters of World War II in China. By contrast, the
story of the month-long campaign before this notorious massacre has
never been told in its entirety. Nanjing 1937 by Peter Harmsen
fills this gap. This is the follow-up to Harmsen's best-selling
Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze, and begins where that
book left off. In stirring prose, it describes how the Japanese
Army, having invaded the mainland and emerging victorious from the
Battle of Shanghai, pushed on toward the capital Nanjing in a
crushing advance that confirmed its reputation for bravery and
savagery in equal measure. While much of the struggle over Shanghai
had carried echoes of the grueling war in the trenches two decades
earlier, the Nanjing campaign was a fast-paced mobile operation in
which armor and air power played mayor roles. It was blitzkrieg two
years before Hitler's invasion of Poland. Facing the full might of
modern, mechanized warfare, China's resistance was heroic, but
ultimately futile. As in Shanghai, the battle for Nanjing was more
than a clash between Chinese and Japanese. Soldiers and citizens of
a variety of nations witnessed or took part in the hostilities.
German advisors, American journalists and British diplomats all
played important parts in this vast drama. And a new power appeared
on the scene: Soviet pilots dispatched by Stalin to challenge
Japan's control of the skies. This epic tale is told with verve and
attention to detail by Harmsen, a veteran East Asia correspondent
who consolidates his status as the foremost chronicler of World War
II in China with this path-breaking work of narrative history.
The last instalment of the War in the Far East trilogy, Asian
Armageddon 1944-1945, continues and completes the narrative of the
first two volumes, describing how a US-led coalition of nations
battled Japan into submission through a series of cataclysmic
encounters. Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle ever, was
testimony to the paramount importance of controlling the ocean, as
was the fact that the US Navy carried out the only successful
submarine campaign in history, reducing Japan's military and
merchant navies to shadows of the former selves. Meanwhile,
fighting continued in disparate geographic conditions on land, with
the chaos of Imphal, the inferno of Manila, and the carnage of Iwo
Jima forming some of milestones on the bloody road to peace, sealed
in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. The nuclear blasts at the end of
the war made one observer feel as if he was 'present at the
creation'. Indeed, the participants in the events in the Asia
Pacific in the mid-1940s were present at the creation of a new and
dangerous world. It was a world where the stage was set for the
Cold War and for international rivalries that last to this day, and
a new constellation of powers emerged, with the outlines, just over
the horizon, of a rising China. War in the Far East is a trilogy of
books comprising a general history of World War II in the Asia
Pacific. Unlike other histories on the conflict it goes into its
deep origins, beginning long before Pearl Harbor, and encompasses a
far wider group of actors to produce the most complete account yet
written on the subject and the first truly international treatment
of this epic conflict. Author Peter Harmsen weaves together complex
events into a revealing and entertaining narrative, including
facets of the war that may be unknown even to avid readers of World
War II history, from the mass starvations that cost the lives of
millions across China, Indochina and India to the war in subarctic
conditions in the Aleutians. Harmsen pieces together the full range
of perspectives, reflecting what war was like both at the top and
on the ground.
In early 1942, the Japanese Army and Navy were advancing on all
fronts, humiliating their US, British and Dutch foes throughout the
Asia Pacific. In a matter of just months, the soldiers and sailors
of the Rising Sun conquered an area even bigger than Hitler's
empire at its largest extent. They seemed invincible. Hawaiians and
Australians were fearing a future under Hirohito. For half of
mankind, fate was hanging in the balance. Fast forward to the end
of 1943, and the tables had been turned entirely. A reinvigorated
American-led military machine had kicked into gear, and the
Japanese were fighting a defensive battle along a frontline that
crossed thousands of miles of land and ocean. Japan Runs Wild,
1942-1943 by acclaimed author Peter Harmsen details the astonishing
transformation that took place in that period, setting the Allies
on a path to final victory against Japan. This second installment
in the trilogy, War in the Far East, picks up the story where first
volume Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941 left off. The
trilogy will give a comprehensive view of World War II in the Asia
Pacific, with due emphasis on the central Japanese-American
struggle, but also examining the role of the other nations engulfed
in the vast showdown: British, Australians, Soviets, Filipinos,
Indians and Koreans. Above all, the central importance of China is
highlighted in a way that no previous general history of the war
against Japan has achieved.
This deeply researched book describes one of the great forgotten
battles of the 20th century. At its height it involved nearly a
million Chinese and Japanese soldiers, while sucking in three
million civilians as unwilling spectators and, often, victims. It
turned what had been a Japanese adventure in China into a general
war between the two oldest and proudest civilizations of the Far
East. Ultimately, it led to Pearl Harbor and to seven decades of
tumultuous history in Asia. The Battle of Shanghai was a pivotal
event that helped define and shape the modern world. In its sheer
scale, the struggle for China's largest city was a sinister
forewarning of what was in store for the rest of mankind only a few
years hence, in theaters around the world. It demonstrated how
technology had given rise to new forms of warfare, or had made old
forms even more lethal. Amphibious landings, tank assaults, aerial
dogfights and most importantly, urban combat, all happened in
Shanghai in 1937. It was a dress rehearsal for World War II-or
perhaps more correctly it was the inaugural act in the war-the
first major battle in the global conflict. Actors from a variety of
nations were present in Shanghai during the three fateful autumn
months when the battle raged. The rich cast included China's
ascetic Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his Japanese adversary,
General Matsui Iwane, who wanted Asia to rise from disunity, but
ultimately pushed the continent toward its deadliest conflict ever.
Claire Chennault, later of "Flying Tiger" fame, was among the
figures emerging in the course of the campaign, as was First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt. In an ironic twist, Alexander von Falkenhausen,
a stern German veteran of the Great War, abandoned his role as a
mere advisor to the Chinese army and led it into battle against the
Japanese invaders. Written by Peter Harmsen, a foreign
correspondent in East Asia for two decades, and currently bureau
chief in Taiwan for the French news agency AFP, Shanghai 1937 fills
a gaping chasm in our understanding of the Second World War.
War in the Asia Pacific is a trilogy of books comprising a general
history of the war against Japan; unlike other histories it expands
the narrative beginning long before Pearl Harbor and encompasses a
much wider group of actors to produce the most complete narrative
yet written and the first truly international treatment of the epic
conflict. Peter Harmsen uses his renowned ability to weave together
complex events into an entertaining and revealing narrative,
including facets of the war that may be unknown to many readers of
WWII history, such as the war in Subarctic conditions on the
Aleutians, or the mass starvations that cost the lives of millions
in China, Indochina, and India, and offering a range of
perspectives to reflect what war was like both at the top and at
the bottom, from the Oval Office to the blistering sands of
Peleliu. Storm Clouds over the Pacific begins the story long before
Pearl Harbor, showing how the war can only be understood if ancient
hatreds and long-standing geopolitics are taken into account. Peter
Harmsen demonstrates how Japan and China's ancient enmity grew in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries leading to
increased tensions in the 1930s which exploded into conflict in
1937. The battles of Shanghai and Nanjing were followed by the
battle of Taierzhuang in 1938, China's only major victory. A war of
attrition continued up to 1941, the year when Japan made the
momentous decision for all-out war; the infamous attack on Pearl
Harbor catapulted the United States into the war, and the Japanese
also overran British and Dutch territories throughout the western
Pacific.
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